


Espina de Rosa

by cryogen_crybaby



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, klance - Fandom
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gangs, M/M, drugdealers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-10-22 00:26:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17652545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryogen_crybaby/pseuds/cryogen_crybaby
Summary: Moving into his new apartment in a bad part of town, the last thing Lance expected was to fall in love, and even less falling in love his neighbor and Gang member; Keith.(The story of how Lance and Keith fall in love and their journey to happiness.)





	1. Part 1: UNO

**Author's Note:**

> This story will be in 2 parts.  
> Part 1 is in Lance's POV  
> Part 2 is in Keith's POV  
> Enjoy!

>  
> 
> **Life is full of unexpected surprises.**
> 
> * * *

Lance wiped the sweat off his brow and inhaled deeply, putting down the suitcase he was carrying before leaning against the wall of his new studio apartment. He took only a quick pause because there were still 2 suitcases left on the first floor of the building and, since it was a shady neighborhood, he didn’t want to get his things stolen.

He went into the hallway and locked his door again before rushing down the 4 flights of stairs to get to the first floor. Lance decided to grab the two suitcases, one in each hand in order to save time. He should have let Hunk help him, but his best friend had a diner to run and Lance didn’t want to be a burden, he already felt like one for having lived almost a year in Hunk’s guest bedroom when the guy had just moved in with his girlfriend Shay.   
  
Finding an apartment when you’re practically broke is not an easy thing to do, it was a miracle that Lance had been able to afford the place he was renting now, it was still expensive for the space they offered but, Lance was desperate so he didn’t bother in looking for something else. Granted the place was in a really sketchy neighborhood, the kind of place that most people in town warn you not to wander in, saying that if you did, you’d probably get robbed or killed.

Lance exhaled sharply when he arrived at the third floor, cursing himself in his mind for being so stupid to carry 2 suitcases at a time but it was fine, just one more floor and this was over, he’d be inside his apartment. He cursed in his mind when he heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Lance kept on climbing the stairs, and just as he was about to step onto the fourth floor, he came face to face with someone, startling Lance, making him miss his step and stumble.

Thankfully for Lance, he had quick reflexes so he let go of one suitcase to grab the railing to keep himself from falling. Lance looked up as he heard a small gasp coming from the top of the stairs. The stranger noticed him staring and swallowed “You okay man? Need some help?”

Lance considered it for a second because definitely, he needed help but he had heard stories about people asking to help but ended up robbing them instead or asking for money and Lance couldn’t afford any of those options.   
  
“No thank you, I’m fine.” He said before grabbing the suitcase that he had let go off. He groaned slightly, the suitcase was pretty heavy. He had managed to bring his whole life of stuff in 4 suitcases.

“You’re clearly not fine, let me help you, I really don’t mind.” The stranger said again, taking a step closer to Lance. This time, Lance really took in his appearance. The man had black hair, tied into a small ponytail; dark eyes with heavy bags under them, like he hadn’t gotten much sleep lately. He had a huge scar on the right side of his face but other than that, he was really beautiful. His aesthetic belonged in this neighborhood but his face belonged in a fashion magazine. He was wearing a leather jacket with a black shirt underneath and black jeans.

“If you want to help then just get out of the way, please,” Lance said, his voice harsher than he intended it to be.

The guy scowled, clearly not expecting Lance’s words. He went down the stairs, pushing past Lance, making him stumble again; this time though, Lance did not let go of his suitcase.

“Hey!” Lance called after the guy.

The guy looked over his shoulder, glaring at Lance before leaving.

As Lance watched him go, he could see the guy’s leather jacket, it had a symbol on it and how above it, it said Galra.

Galra… Lance had heard that name before but he couldn’t remember where at the moment.

Finally, Lance made it to the apartment and collapsed on his mattress.

 


	2. Part 1: DOS

> **Be curious, not judgmental.**
> 
> * * *
> 
>  

 

 

The bell chimed and Hunk looked up from the table he was cleaning, smiling as he saw who came in.

 

“Lance! Hey buddy, shouldn’t you be at work?” He asked to which Lance pointed at his nurse uniform.

 

“On my way there, just wanted to greet my best friend on the way there and maybe get some free breakfast?” He asked, making puppy dog eyes at Hunk who only shook his head with a soft chuckle. 

 

“Fine, what do you want?” He asked, sliding behind the counter, grabbing a notepad and a pen to write Lance’s order. 

 

Lance beamed and sat down at the counter “Strawberry pie and a hot chocolate?” 

 

Hunk hummed “I’ll bring it right up.” He said before disappearing in the kitchen.

 

At the same time, the bell above the door chimed again, making Lance turn around to see who came into the establishment, curiosity always got the better of him.

 

He smiled and waved as he recognized his friend Pidge. She had big headphones on and took them off as she made her way towards Lance, plopping herself onto the seat next to him. 

 

“How are you so energetic this early?” Pidge groaned, burying her face in her hands. 

 

“Rough night?” Lance asked to which Pidge let out another groan again “After finishing work, I stayed up all night to finish my marketing paper. Why do I have to take marketing classes when I’m studying computer engineering?!”

 

Lance shrugged “so you can make your own business one day?” 

 

“I don’t want that, I already know where I’m gonna work after graduating, Matt said he’d get me a job at the Garrsion police as a computer expert,” Pidge said.

 

“Pidge, good to see you early, the register is acting up again, fix it for me please?” Hunk said as he came back from the kitchen, handing Lance his pie and beverage. 

 

Pidge sighed “I’ll get started on that right away, boss.” She said before getting down from her chair and made her way to the register to examine it. 

 

“So, I saw that they’re opening a new diner right out front,” Lace said, as he chewed on his pie. “Looks like you’re gonna get some competition.” 

 

Hunk groaned “ugh don’t remind me. I don’t get why they have to make their stupid diner here of all places, Empire is a large franchise, why build a new diner right in front of another one!”

 

“Empire you say? Matt told me he thinks it’s owned by the Galra and that they use their diners to launder all of their drug money.” Pidge said, making Lance choke on his pie. 

 

“That’s how I knew this name! Galra! They’re that drug dealing gang you’ve said lives in my neighborhood.”

 

“Mhm, that’s why we warned you about moving there but you never listen.” Hunk said with a sigh. 

 

“I met one of them yesterday, he’s my neighbor, I think,” Lance said to which Hunk and Pidge shared a worried look. 

 

“That’s not good Lance, you need to stay away from those guys, Matt tells me they’re really dangerous,” Pidge said 

 

“Lance you can always come back and live with me and Shay until you can afford another place.” Hunk said, worry all over his face. 

 

“No, no way I’m doing that. You’ve been generous enough to let me stay there for almost a year. Maybe you don’t mind but Shay surely must mind, I moved in there right after you guys moved in together. You need your privacy.” Lance said with a sigh “plus you know I can’t afford anything else, not with the money I have to send to my mamá so she can pay back the hospital debts… I’ll be fine I promise guys” 

 

Hunk sighed “if you say so, but the second you’re in danger you move back in, alright? Shay wouldn’t mind if it keeps you out of trouble.”

 

Lance smiled “okay, thanks Hunk you’re the best.” 

 

“I gotta get to work, but I’ll see you later guys. Thanks for breakfast Hunk.” Lance said, getting up from his chair. 

 

Once his friends were done saying their goodbyes, he rushed out of the door, not wanting to arrive late at the hospital or else Coran would have his head.

 

At the end of the day, Lance felt exhausted. He picked up some groceries before going home after work. He now only had 20 dollars left in his bank account after having paid all his bills, and also sent money to his family back in Cuba. How was he going to survive until the end of the month was, a mystery. He’d have to live off free food at Hunk’s and cup ramen. 

 

In front of his building, was a red motorcycle with a pretty blonde standing in front of it. She was wearing the same jacket as his neighbor, she must be from the same Galra gang, it was a shame, she was so pretty. 

 

“Keith, hurry the fuck up, Lotor is going to kick our butts if we’re late again!” The blonde yelled, moving towards the entrance of the building before making her way back to the motorcycle. 

 

“Calm down Romelle, it’s not my fault you didn’t bring your helmet.” Lance’s neighbor grumbled as he left their building, tossing one black helmet to the girl apparently called Romelle. 

 

His neighbor, who Lance now knew his name was Keith, was putting on his red helmet and he glanced at Lance. 

 

As their eyes met, Lance held up his gaze for a second before lowering his eyes, making his way past them and inside the building. 


	3. Part 1: TRES

> All I want is to relax but you're making it impossible.

* * *

 

At the end of the week, Lance was exhausted. Maybe it was a mix of not eating properly and sleeping too little that was getting to him but if one thing was sure, was that he needed to relax. 

  
After leaving work, Lance went to the local Sephora and got himself a face mask, then, he went by a 7 eleven near his neighborhood to get himself some cup ramen.    
  
Lance sent a quick message to his mom, asking her when she’d be free for Skype, they hadn’t talked in a couple of weeks and Lance was already missing her. He had spoken to his sister Veronica before moving in his new apartment, but since then, he didn’t have any contact with his siblings.

 

After eating his instant ramen, Lance took a long bath while putting on some relaxing music, once that was done, he dried his hair and put on the face mask he had purchased earlier; he didn’t even realize it but as he was waiting for his face mask to dry, he fell asleep. 

 

Lance awoke with the sound of loud music coming from upstairs. He groaned, looking at his phone and saw that it was 3am. Who played loud music at 3am?! 

 

He waited for the music to stop but after half an hour, it didn't stop and Lance had enough. He got up, putting on his robe, grabbed his keys and left his apartment.

 

Lance marched angrily upstairs, and knocked loudly on the door where the music came from. After a couple of seconds, they lowered the music and opened the door. 

 

Lance scoffed as he saw who opened the door, of course it was his criminal neighbor, Keith. 

 

“What?” snarled the young man. He had his hair tied up in a ponytail, he was wearing a my chemical romance tank top and some boxer briefs. 

 

Lance could see that he had a tattoo on his right shoulder with something written on it but he couldn’t read what it said. 

 

“Can you shut down your music? It’s 3h30 in morning, what the hell are you doing,having your own private heavy metal concert?! I need my beauty sleep.” Lance grumbled angrily. 

 

Keith chuckled “Beauty sleep? Sorry, I’ll lower the music, I’m not used to have neighbors and I normally clean better with music.” He said 

 

Lance frowned “who the fuck cleans at 3am?!” 

 

Keith crossed his arms on his chest “I’m most productive at night.” He said before going back inside and turning off the music. “Happy?” He asked 

 

Lance nodded “yes, thank you.” 

 

“Nice face mask.” Keith said smirking with a soft chuckle.

 

Lance blushed a deep shade of red at Keith’s words, thankful for his face mask so Keith wouldn’t be able to see his red face. He didn’t answer anything, turning around and went back to his apartment.


	4. Part 1:QUATRO

> I dislike you but I'm also curious about you.

* * *

 

Even after having gone to sleep at almost 4am, Lance felt so refreshed when he woke up in the morning. It was 10am and being Saturday, he decided to go down to the local laundromat to do his laundry. 

 

As Lance was coming back from the laundromat, he saw Keith in front of their building. He was talking to a man who wore the same gang jacket as Keith, he had tan skin and bleached white hair. The man gave Keith a bag, which he opened, checking the contents before closing it again. 

 

Their eyes met and Keith smiled at Lance, waving at him slightly. The white-haired man turned around to look at who Keith was waving at and their eyes met; he narrowed his eyes at Lance.

 

Lance frowned, lowering his gaze before going back inside his building. 

  
  


After taking a shower, Lance got ready and went to Hunk’s diner. He was immediately greeted by Matt Holt. 

 

“Lance! Just the person I wanted to see!” he said, clapping on Lance’s back.    
  
“Hey Matt, what’s up?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend, curiously.

 

“Come with me to the opening of Empire, Pidge has to work and my boss told me to check the place out, see if I see anything suspicious but I don’t want to go alone.”    
  
Lance shrugged “Sure, why not, I don’t have anything better to do.” he said with a chuckle. Matt grinned at him “Awesome, I knew you’d say yes.”   
  


 

They arrived at the diner with Matt and Lance immediately noticed who different it looked from Hunk’s diner, the decor was all dark with shades of purple and pink but aside from that, it looked like a normal diner, nothing out of the ordinary.    
  
There were already lots of people inside, almost all the booths were taken so Lance and Matt went to sit by the bar.    
  
As Lance was about to order something to drink, Matt got a phone call and excused himself, leaving Lance by himself inside the diner. He sighed, scanning the crowd. 

 

Coming here of all places, Lance did not expect to see someone he knew, but he certainly did not expect to see Allura; the head doctor at the hospital where he worked. He had been crushing on her from the moment he saw her, of course, he had flirted with her, multiple times but each time she had rejected him politely.    
  
Lance got up and made his way towards her.    
  
“Hey Allura.” he said with a grin

 

Allura’s face lit up as she saw him, smiling at him. “Lance! Hey, fancy seeing you here.”    
  
“I came here with a friend, are you here alone, can I buy you a drink?” Lance asked, hoping this could be his chance to invite her on a date. 

 

Allura blushed slightly and shook her head “Sorry, I’m here with my boyfriend, he’s the owner of this place.”    
  
Lance blinked “Oh, that’s… nice.” he said, chuckling awkwardly.

 

Just as he was about to say something else so things wouldn’t be awkward, someone cleared their throat behind him. Lance saw Allura’s face lit up as a young man stepped next to her, handing her a pink drink. Lance immediately recognized the man, he was the same guy he had seen talking to his neighbor Keith in front of their building this morning.   
  
“Who’s this?” the man in question asked

  
“Lotor, this is Lance, he’s a friend of mine. Lance, meet my boyfriend, Lotor.” Allura said

 

Lotor extended a hand towards Lance who gently shook it. “Nice to meet you, man.” Lance said, putting on a fake smile. 

 

“The pleasure is all mine.” 

 

“Well, I’ll leave you to your date. See you on Monday Allura.” Lance added before turning around and leaving them alone. 

 

Did Allura even know she’s dating a gang member, a criminal? She had to know, but she was such a kind person, how could she be with someone like Lotor?    
  
Lance sighed went back to the bar, where the hell was Matt? He asked him to come to this and now he was ditching him. Well, Lance could always walk back over to Hunk’s diner… He waited for a couple of minutes until he had enough, he got up from his place at the bar and made his way towards the door, bumping into someone.    
  
“Watch it.” the person grumbled which made Lance look at them, raising an eyebrow at their tone. As soon as their eyes met, Lance cursed himself in his head for looking at the man.    
  
In front of him, stood his neighbor Keith, dressed in all black, wearing the same leather jacket as always.    
  
“Oh hey, it’s you.” Keith said, his face changing a little.    
  
“Yup… well, it’s been a pleasure as always but I’m gonna go now.” Lance said, hoping it showed how little he wanted to talk to his neighbor.    
  
“Wait, don’t go, let me buy you a drink… you know, to apologize… for yesterday.” Keith said 

 

Lance frowned, taken aback by his neighbor's words. “No thanks, I’m good.”    
  
Keith blinked, clearly not expecting rejection “Why not? Come on, how could you say no to a free drink?” he said, crossing his arms on his chest.

  
“I don’t accept drinks from criminals.” Lance replied 

  
Keith raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed “Whatever, suit yourself.” he said before turning around and leaving.    
  
Lance went back to Hunk’s diner, regretting not having accepted Keith’s drink. He felt bad for being a jerk to the guy but he figured it was best not to make friends with people like him, even if deep down, there was something about Keith that intrigued Lance, that made him want to know him more.


	5. PART 1: CINCO

> To save someone, it's a great honor

* * *

  
  
Time went by pretty quickly, and soon a month had gone by.

 

Lance worked hard every day, spent his weekends with Hunk and Pidge. He had given up on Allura and had even scored a date with a pretty blonde that he met at the hospital. 

 

Since that day at the opening of Empire, he hadn’t spoken to his neighbor Keith.

 

He had seen him around a couple of times, but each time, Keith hadn’t tried to initiate any contact. 

 

Lance wasn’t sure how to feel about this, he felt disappointed but also relieved. 

 

“Earth to Lance, what are you thinking about?” Hunk asked, poking his best friend in the arm. 

 

“Oh, sorry, I spaced out again.” He said, before continuing his meal.

 

“I bet he’s thinking of that Nyma girl again.” Pidge snickered 

 

Lance hummed “I’m actually pretty nervous for tonight, what if I screw up and she doesn’t want to go on another date with me?” 

 

Hunk sighed softly, placing his hand on Lance’s shoulder reassuringly. “You’re not going to screw up and if you do, so what? If she doesn’t want to go on another date with you, she’s missing out on getting to know the most amazing guy ever.” 

 

Lance smiled softly before hugging Hunk “thank you buddy.” 

 

Lance yawned as he got up the stairs of his building. He needed to shower, change and then he’d have to leave to meet Nyma at the movies. 

 

If he hadn’t been so tired, Lance would have noticed the droplets of blood on the steps of the stairs but he didn’t. He didn’t notice anything out of the unusual until he arrived in front of his door. 

 

Lance’s eyes went wide, in front of his door was sitting Keith, his shirt soaked with blood from a wound Lance could not see without examining him. 

 

“Please… help me…”    
  


Lance rushed towards Keith, kneeling in front of him and pressing on hand on the wound to stop the blood, using his other hand to take his phone out of his pocket.    
  
“What are you doing?” Keith asked, his eyes scanning Lance’s face.    
  
“I’m calling 911, we need to get you to the hospital.” 

  
“No, no hospital.”    
  
Lance looked at Keith as if he had grown a second head “What?! You need medical attention, you’re bleeding out!”    
  
“No hospital! Please help me take the bullet out, I can’t do it myself.” 

Lance groaned, saying some curse words in Spanish before getting up, helping Keith to his feet. He opened his door quickly before helping Keith lie down on his bed.    
  
“I don’t have all the proper equipment to treat you,” Lance said before rushing to grab the little stuff he had to help Keith.   
  
He went back to the bed, opening a bottle of alcohol, cleaning his tools as quickly as he could. “It’s gonna hurt.” He said before proceeding to pour alcohol on the wound.    
  
Keith let out a loud scream and Lance gritted his teeth, proceeding to try and find the bullet to take it out. Keith kept screaming from the pain, and after what felt like an eternity, Lance finally found the bullet, taking it out.    
  
“I’m going to need to  cauterize the wound.” Keith nodded, his eyes watery with tears.    
  
Lance heat up a knife before pressing it against Keith’s wound. Keith screamed again. 

“It’s almost over, I need to clean disinfect the wound now and bandage it.” Lance said, looking at Keith who’s face was sickly pale and who’s eyes barely stayed open.    
  
“Hey, Keith, you can’t fall asleep, talk to me.”    
  
Keith groaned, opening his eyes “Thank you for saving me, even though you hate me.” he said, his voice hoarse from all the screaming.    
  
Lance blinked, looking up at Keith in confusion. “I don’t hate you but this type of situations is exactly why I wanted to keep my distance from you.” he said with a sigh before starting to gently clean the wound. 

“I couldn’t go to a hospital and I had nowhere else to go, I remembered you were a nurse so I thought to go to you for help was my best chance for survival.” Keith said, looking at Lance as he cleaned and bandaged his wound. “I’m sorry for getting you involved though…”   
  
“It’s fine, I wasn’t going to let you die,” Lance said, smiling slightly.

They stayed in silence for a little while before Keith spoke again “Can I ask you something?”

  
Lance hummed “Sure.”    
  
“Can I know the name of my savior?”   
  
Lance raised his head at the question, blinking. “Right, I never introduced myself. My name’s Lance.”    
  
Keith smiled “that’s a nice name.” He said “Thank you for saving my life, Lance.” 

Lance blushed slightly “You’re welcome, just doing my job.” he said, clearing his throat a little. 

  
“All done. I’m gonna go wash up and get you a glass of water okay? Try not to move.”   
  
Keith hummed, pressing his head against Lance’s pillow, closing his eyes.

Lance went the bathroom and frowned at his reflection in the mirror. At some point, he had smeared blood on his forehead, trying to wipe the sweat away.    
  
He sighed, cleaning his hands and then his face.    
  
He left the bathroom and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for Keith but when he came back, Keith had already fallen asleep. 

Lance put the glass on his nightstand before grabbing a wet cloth and pressed it against Keith’s forehead.    
  
He sighed, taking his phone out and gasped, (10) missed calls from Nyma.

 


	6. Part 1:SEIS

_ “What do you mean you’re not coming?” _

  
Lance sighed, running a hand through his hair “I’m so sorry Nyma, there has been a situation, my friend really needs me, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”    
  
“You better make it up to me, I was looking forward to our first date, I even bought a new dress and all.” Nyma said and Lance sighed again “I’m sorry, I promise I’ll make it up to you.” he said again before hanging up.    
  
“What am I going to do with you?” Lance said as he looked at Keith. He went over to him and changing the cloth on Keith’s forehead to a fresh one.    
  
Thankfully, Keith didn’t have a fever but he needed to get him some antibiotics just in case.    
  
Lance changed out of his work clothes since they were stained with blood and left to go buy Keith some antibiotics.    
  
He went to the closest pharmacy he could find and also bought new bandages to change Keith’s.    
  
When he got back home, Keith still hadn’t woken up.    
  
Lance felt exhausted, he lied down next to Keith, thankful that his bed was big enough for both of them.    
  
Lance awoke to the sun shining in his eyes, he groaned, opening his eyes only to find himself face to face with a sleeping Keith. Right. Keith had been shot and he had to take the bullet out of him, that wasn’t a dream.    
He went to take a long shower, changing into some fresh clothes.    
  
“Morning.” Keith said as soon as Lance stepped out of the bathroom, making him jump a little. He was on Lance’s bed, sitting up, his back pressed against the wall.    
  
“Good Morning.” Lance said with a smile “How are you feeling?” He asked    
  
Keith smiled “weirdly, I’m feeling good, it hurts a bit when I sat up but not too much. Maybe I just have a high pain tolerance.” He said with a chuckle   
  
Lance hummed “maybe, I’ll change your bandages and then I’m making breakfast.”   
  
Keith blinked before laughing softly “I can’t believe you’re so nice, you were such a jerk before.”    
  
Lance gasped “Excuse me? Of course I’m nice.” he pouted, grabbing the antibiotics and the clean bandages. “But I suppose I was kind of a jerk to you. I’m sorry.”    
  
Keith hummed “it’s fine. Can we start over though?”    
  
Lance sat down on the bed and hummed “Sure, it’s too late to pretend not to know each other now so might as well be friends rights?”    
  
Keith chewed on his lower lip “Sounds good.”    
  
Lance handed Keith the antibiotic pill “Here, take this just in case to avoid infections.”    
  
Keith narrowed his eyes at the pill “What is it?”    
  


Lance blinked “Antibiotics…”    
  


“I don’t like taking pills.”    
  
Lance raised an eyebrow “You’re a drug dealer who doesn’t like drugs, weird.”    
  
Keith frowned “Just because I deal doesn’t mean I consume.”   
  
“Well those aren’t drugs per se, it’s medicine so your wound doesn’t get infected since you don’t want to go to a hospital, you should take it.”    
  
“Fine.” Keith grumbled, grabbing the pill from Lance’s hand, putting it into his mouth. He grabbed the glass of water from the nightstand took a sip from it, swallowing the pill.    
  
Lance began taking off Keith’s old bandages “so you’ve never done drugs?”    
  
Keith chewed on his bottom lip “I tried weed once in high school, I felt horrible, never again.”    
  
Lance hummed “I’ve never tried any drug before, don’t really get the appeal to be honest.”    
  
Keith hummed “Good, don’t.”    
  
Lance chuckled “I hope you don’t tell that to your clients.”    
  
Keith laughed “I don’t, I don’t care if they waste their lives away.”    
  
Lance raised his eyes to look at Keith “But you care if I do?”    
  
“I never said that.” Keith said, looking to the side, a small blush tinting his cheeks. 

 

Lance chuckled, finishing to change Keith’s bandages.    
  
“So, breakfast. I’m no chef sadly but I have cereal, is that okay with you?” He asked, making his way to the kitchen after he had thrown away the bandages and washed his hands.    
  
“Uh- actually, do you have anything else?”    
  
Lance turned around, facing Keith. “You don’t eat cereal?” he asked, raising a brow in surprise.    
  
“Uh- it’s not that… I can’t drink milk… I’m lactose intolerant.” Keith said, embarrassed, fiddling with the covers of the bed.    
  
Lance hummed “Oh, that sucks but it’s okay, I could make bacon, I don’t have eggs though…”    
  
Keith smiled “Bacon’s fine, thank you.”    
  
Lance took the bacon out of the fridge and put it on a plate before putting it in the microwave. He then took out a bowl and poured cereal in it before pouring the milk.    
  
“So, can I go home today?” Keith asked

 

Lance hummed “well, I think it’s best if you stay here for today so I can keep an eye on your wound and it’s best if you don’t move around too much.”    
  
Keith blinked “But I live upstairs, you can check on me there.”    
  
Lance chuckle, “That’s true but you’re already here, it’s best if you stay here for today… why? Do you hate my place so much you wanna leave already?” He teased 

 

Keith blinked, shaking his head “No, it’s nice, it’s super small compared to my place but it’s nice, I like it.” He said blushing slightly.    
  


The microwave beeped, indicating that the bacon was done. Lance took the plate out of the microwave before putting the bacon on a new plate. He put it on a tray along with a napkin and gave it to Keith before grabbing his bowl of cereal and sat down next to him.    
  
Keith smiled “thank you. Do you think you could lend me your phone charger, my phone’s dead.”    
  
Lance hummed “of course, it’s plugged in and on the nightstand, you can charge your phone.”    
  
Keith took his phone out of his pocket and plugged it. “Thanks.”   
  
“So you can’t eat dairy at all right, so you don’t eat pizza?” Lance asked before ate a spoon full of cereal. 

 

“I do eat pizza sometimes, I just feel super sick after but it’s worth it.” Keith answered with a grin.    
  
Lance chuckled “That’s terrible.” 

 

Keith phone buzzed, he checked it and groaned “Crap.”    
  
Lance raised an eyebrow at him “something wrong?” he asked and Keith only answered showing Lance his phone. There was a couple of notifications but the one that stood out more was the first one. 

 

(267) Missed calls from Romelle. 

 

“Shit, that’s a lot of calls, your girlfriend is clearly worried about you, you should call her back.”   
  
Keith laughed “She’s not my girlfriend.”   
  
Lance blinked “She’s clearly into you man, you should go for it.”   
  
Keith laughed again and shook his head. Lance frowned “Don’t laugh, it’s not funny.”   
  
“It is.” Keith said before adding “I’m gay too, she’s not into me, we’re like siblings.”   
  
Lance hummed “Oh, okay.” he said, before eating another spoonful of cereal.   
  
“Wait- what do you mean by ‘gay too’?” he asked, once he had swallowed his food.   
  
Keith blinked at him, confused “that you’re gay and I’m gay too?”   
  
Lance choked on air “I’m not gay.”  
  
Keith stared at Lance with wide eyes  “You can’t be straight. No way, you use face masks!”

Lance broke into laughter “taking care of your skin has nothing to do with your sexuality, everyone should do face masks. You could use one, really.” he said, pausing a bit before speaking again “and I’m not straight, I’m bisexual.” 

Keith smiled “Good to know.”   
  



	7. PART 1: SIETE

Lance got up from his bed “How about we order some food for dinner? No pizza I promise.” he said, looking at Keith   
  
“Sounds good but after, I should go home. I loved spending all day relaxing with you, getting to know you and I’ll be careful when I do things but tomorrow I have deliveries to do, thank god I didn’t have any today but I can’t stop working.” Keith said

 

Lance blinked, “Oh, yeah sure, of course.” He said with a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. “So, what do you want to order?” He asked 

 

They ended up ordering Chinese food, as they were eating, Lance’s phone kept ringing. 

 

“You can answer you know.” Keith said as he finished his fried noodles.

 

Lance checked his phone, it was Nyma. 

 

“Hey Nyma.” 

 

“Lance, you said you wanted to make it up to me right? There is this fancy restaurant opening tonight and I want to go, so pick me up in an hour.” 

 

Lance chewed on his bottom lip. “Sure, let’s go, text me your address and I’ll pick you up.” 

 

He sighed as he hung up. How would he afford this dinner? He’d use his credit card but he’d have to ask Coran for more shifts at the hospital to make more money. 

 

“A friend?” Keith asked, curious.

 

Lance turned around to look at him and saw Keith staring at him with his big dark eyes. 

 

“Uh- no, my girlfriend actually.” 

 

Keith made a face that Lance couldn’t quite understand, it was a mix between an angry frown with a hint of sadness in his eyes. 

 

“Girlfriend, right of course you have a girlfriend.” He said before getting up, wincing from the pain since he had gotten up so suddenly. 

 

“I should get going then, if you have a date. You should get ready and get there on time.” Keith added, grabbing his phone from the nightstand before making his way across the room, towards the front door. 

 

“You don’t need to leave now, I still have time.” Lance said, a little confused by Keith’s sudden reaction. 

 

“No, it’s best if I go now, thank you again for saving my life. I’ll see you around.” Keith said, opening the front door before walking away, closing it as he left; leaving Lance dumbfounded.

 

\------

 

Lance checked at his reflextion one last time. He was wearing a dark blue button up and black jeans. 

As he grabbed his keys and made his way to the front door, he heard rain hitting his window so he turned around to grab his umbrella before leaving. 

After taking 2 buses, he made it to Nyma’s apartment. He rang the doorbell and soon enough, she opened the door. 

“Hey, wow you look beautiful.” Lance said with a smile as he took in Nyma’s appearance, she was wearing a sleeveless, low cut red dress that accentuated all her curves and showed off her boobs, she had paired that with black high heels that made her long legs appear longer. Her hair curled at the ends and it fell beautifully on her shoulders. 

“Thanks, I know.” Nyma replied before grabbing Lance’s arm. 

After two more buses and Nyma complaining the whole way there about how it wasn’t acceptable that Lance didn’t have a car, they finally arrived at the restaurant. 

The place was huge and it looked super fancy, Lance felt under dressed. 

They entered the restaurant and were greeted by a lady who showed them to a table in the center of the restaurant. 

Lance would have preferred to be in a table in the back, more intimate but this would do. The lady complimented them, saying how they were such a lovely couple and handed them their menus, saying how a waitress would be right with them. 

Lance opened the menu and almost fainted from the shock, just the appetizers were already 50 dollars, he scanned through the whole menu, feeling lightheaded. The appetizers price ranges were from 50 to 80 dollars, the food, and the desserts were from 100 to 200 dollars and the drinks were from 25 to 30 dollars. 

“-decided. Lance?”

“Huh?” Lance blinked, looking up at Nyma. “Sorry, I was trying to decide what to eat, everything looks so delicious,” Lance said with a nervous chuckle. 

“I said I’ve already decided what I want, I’ll be having a fruit cocktail and the chicken parmesan salad, you?” Nyma asked, smiling at Lance. 

“Uh-...” Lance’s eyes quickly found Nyma’s order, 25 dollars the drink and 150 the salad. Jesus, what the hell was this salad made of? Gold leaves? 

Lance’s eyes settled on the cheapest thing he could find. Crab stuffed mushrooms, 50 dollars. Okay, he’d have that then. Never in his life had he eaten crab stuffed mushrooms before but there was a first for everything right? He wouldn’t drink anything, he wondered if he asked for water would they bring him fancy expensive water or just tap water? Oh who was he kidding, of course they’d bring him the expensive stuff. 

The waitress arrived and asked for their order when Lance said what he wanted, Nyma looked at him confused and asked him if that was all he would eat. Lance lied and said he wasn’t hungry. 

Lance had to tell Hunk to get into the fancy restaurant business, if he put prices like these, he’d make a fortune, way more than he made with his diner. 

Nyma was telling Lance about something that had happened to her at work but Lance couldn’t concentrate, he was thinking of how he could ask Coran for more shifts and then his mind went back to Keith and how he reacted before leaving his apartment earlier. 

Their meal arrived quickly, much to Lance’s surprise. Nyma kept talking as she ate, sometimes texting someone on her phone. Lance finished his food first, and went back to think about Keith. He wondered how he was doing with his wound. He never got to ask him what had happened to him and how he got shot. 

Once Nyma finished her food, Lance asked for the check, almost passing out when he saw the total. 250 for their food. 

In his whole life, Lance had never paid that much money for this little food. He had once paid 280 but he had invited his whole family to eat and that meant his mom, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. A total of like 50 people. But 250 for 2 people and Lance had barely eaten anything, that felt way too much. 

But still, Lance handed his credit card and paid. 

“Did you enjoy the food?” He asked Nyma as they made their way towards the exit of the restaurant. 

“Yes it was delicious.” She said, before grabbing Lance’s hand. 

“ a friend invited me to a party, do you think you could lend me your umbrella?” Nyma asked 

“Uh-.” Lance looked at the sky from the glass door of the restaurant, it was pouring outside, he couldn’t let her walk in the rain. “Of course.” He said, handing her the umbrella. 

“Thanks Lance, you’re the best.” Nyma said before leaning in and gave Lance a quick kiss on the lips. There was a ring coming from Nyma’s phone, she looked at it before smiling “my uber’s here, text you tomorrow.” Nyma said before turning around, getting into her uber and walked away. 

Great, if Lance knew she would take an uber he wouldn’t have lent her his umbrella. He sighed before stepping outside the restaurant, immediately being hit by cold rain.

Lance started to walk towards the nearest bus stop and hoped that one would be there soon, he couldn’t wait to get home. 


	8. PART 1:OCHO

Lance yawned as he stepped off the bus. It was 6am and he had asked Coran for more shifts, and his boss had accepted. With his new shifts, Lance got to see less of Allura but he didn’t mind, as long as he made more money.    
  
As he arrived near his building, he saw Keith who was about to climb on his motorcycle. Keith saw Lance and smiled, taking his helmet off and waiting for Lance to arrive next to him.    
  
“Hey Keith, how’s your wound?” Lance asked    
  
“It’s okay, I’m healing.” Keith answered before frowning “Are you feeling okay? Not to be rude but you look like shit.”    
  
Lance scoffed “wow, thanks Keith. I’m fine, just tried, I asked for more shifts.” 

 

Keith tilted his head “Why?”

  
Lance sighed “Because I need more money if I want to be able to provide for my girlfriend.”   
  
Keith frowned “That makes no sense, you shouldn’t have to provide for her, it’s not like you’re married.” He said, crossing his arms on his chest.   
  
“Well she likes expensive things and I want to make her happy.”    
  
Keith’s scoffed “That’s dumb, she should be happy just by being in a relationship with you. If she wants expensive shit then she should work hard to buy it herself. You shouldn’t have to overwork yourself to buy a girl stuff.”    
  
Lance shook his head “You don’t understand.” he sighed before adding “I should go, get some sleep.”    
  
Keith sighed “Yes, please get some rest and take care of yourself.”    
  
Lance hummed “Will do. Take care Keith, I’ll see you soon I guess.”    
  
Keith hummed “Bye Lance, sleep well.”

The week went by and Lance felt even more exhausted than before. On top of that, he had caught a cold and had been feeling terrible for the past 2 days, he kept coughing and blowing his nose. At work he used a mask so he wouldn’t infect any patients. If his cold didn’t go away in a couple of days, he’d have to start taking medicine but Lance hoped it would go away on it’s own, he didn’t have the money to buy any medicine right now.    
  
Normally Lance never worked on weekends but since asking for more shifts, he had to work on Saturday. Thankfully, he only worked until 12pm. Lance couldn’t wait to get home and sleep, he felt so sleepy he would probably sleep until Monday without even waking up.    
  
One bus ride later, Lance was finally home, he changed out of his work clothes, deciding to take a shower to feel more refreshed and being able to sleep better.    
  
Just as he was making his way out of the bathroom, his phone rang. He sighed when he saw who it was. Nyma. He cared about her but he felt so exhausted that he didn’t even feel like talking.    
  
“Hey Nyma.”    
  
“Hi Lance, let’s go to the movies.”    
  
“I just got out of work and I’m really tired, can we go tomorrow?” He suggested   
  
“I can’t tomorrow, I’m hanging out with my friend Rolo, come on, watching a movie will relax you.” 

Lance sighed “Sure, let’s go.”    
  
“Great, meet me at the mall, I’m already there. I was supposed to go with my friend, he already bought the tickets but he ditched me so…”    
  
Lance hummed “oh that sucks, thankfully I’m here to keep you company. I’m on my way okay?”

“‘Kay, bye.”    
  
Lance let out a heavy sigh as he made his way to his closet and grabbed the first things he saw, at least he didn’t have to pay for the movie tickets so that was something and he could probably sleep during the movie.    
  
3 buses later, Lance made it to the mall, he found Nyma waiting for him by the entrance of the cinema. 

“Hey Nyma.” he smiled, waving at her.    
  


She smiled as she approached him. “Let’s go.” she said, pulling him by the arm.    
  
The movie had just started when they entered, Nyma had them sit all the way to the back of the theater and Lance found himself noticing that maybe he should use his glasses more often as he was seeing everything blurry from so far away.    
  
He hated how he looked with glasses on so he probably wasn’t going to use them any time soon, he only needed them to see things that were really far away so it wasn’t like it bothered him too much on his daily life.    
  
Lance was relaxing, his eyes were slowly closing as he leaned back into his reclinable seat but not even a couple of minutes passed and Nyma moved from her seat, sitting on Lance’s lap.    
  
“W-wha- N-Nyma- w-what are you doing?” Lance stammered, completely shocked by Nyma’s behavior.    
  
“I wanna make out with you, duh.” She replied before leaning in.    
  
Lance grabbed her by the shoulders, gently pushing her away. “W-wait, didn’t you want to watch the movie?”    
  
“I couldn’t care less about the movie, now kiss me.” Nyma said, leaning in again but Lance pushed her away again.    
  
“Wait- we’re in public, we can’t make out in here.”    
  
Nyma rolled her eyes, “that’s what couples do when they go to the movies... “ she said, watching Lance’s face. He wasn’t sure what facial expression he had on at the moment but she must have noticed that it clearly wasn’t going to happen because she rolled her eyes again before climbing off Lance’s lap.    
  
“God you’re so annoying.” Nyma muttered before walking away.    
  
Lance rushed behind her and out of the theater.    
  
“Wait- Nyma!” He ran behind her, grabbing her arm. “Come on, don’t be mad at me, please.” he begged.     
  
Nyma frowned at him before letting out an annoyed huff. “Fine, I’ll forgive you only if you invite food.”    
  
“Yes, I’ll do that. There’s a food court upstairs, we can go there.” He suggested

  
Nyma seemed lost in thoughts for a second as if she was considering Lance’s words before answering. “I don’t normally eat fast food but we’re already here so whatever, let’s go.” she said, pulling him by the arm.    
  
Lance struggled to keep up, feeling dizzy as Nyma pulled him through the crowd of people across the mall and towards the food court. His skin felt like it was burning and his legs felt heavy, he didn’t feel like he could walk any further but he had to keep going. He’d pay for Nyma’s dinner and after he’d go home, he just needed to sleep, that was all.    
  
Suddenly, a girl crashed against Nyma, making her let go of his arm.    
  
“Shit, sorry, you okay?” said a familiar voice. Where had Lance heard this voice before?    
  
Lance was looking down but looked up as he saw that the girl wasn’t alone and he was sure he had seen those combat boots somewhere before.    
  
“Lance, hey.” Of course it was him.    
  
“Keith.” Lance smiled softly as his eyes locked with Keith’s, he recognized the girl who had bumped into Nyma as Romelle, Keith’s friend.    
  
“Oh, so that’s Lance.” he heard Romelle say to Keith and he could have sworn he saw them share a look before Nyma pulled at his arm again.    
  
“You know that guy?” She asked, wrinkling her nose as if Keith were a piece of dog poop she had just stepped on.    
  
Lance exhaled, he wanted to answer but his mind felt foggy. He felt even dizzier than before, he licked his lips, they felt dry. He needed water, or air, or both.    
  
“Lance, are you okay?” he heard Keith say but he could barely hear him, it was as if he was underwater.    
  
He looked at Keith, wanting to answer, to tell him that he was okay, that he just needed to sleep but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth. Everything started spinning around him and the last thing he saw was the panic in Keith’s eyes before suddenly, everything went black.    



	9. PART 1:NUEVE

Lance wakes up and it takes him a few seconds to adjust his eyes to the light but once he does, he sits up. A cloth that was apparently on his forehead falls on his lap, startling him a little. He had no idea where he is and that’s freaking him out a little. He takes in his surroundings, the bed he’s on is huge, he recognizes it as a california king. 

 

Aside from the bed, there is a single bedside table on his left and a chest of drawers against the wall in front of the bed but aside from that, the huge room is empty. 

 

A door opens, startling Lance. Keith steps out of the room, he was shirtless with only sweatpants on. He had a towel in his hands and he drying his hair. Lance felt the temperature of the room rise as his eyes settled on Keith’s muscular body. 

 

“Lance, thank god you’re finally awake! How are you feeling?” Keith asked, his eyes almost sparkling as he saw that Lance was awake. 

 

“I’m feeling good, I think.” He replied with a small chuckle. 

 

“How long was I out?” He asked

 

“Almost 2 days, it’s Monday today and you passed out Saturday afternoon.” Keith replied as he walked towards the drawers, opening it, grabbing a black shirt. He put it on before making his way towards the bed. He leaned in and pressed a hand against Lance’s forehead and hummed. “Thank god you don’t have a fever anymore.” He said before sitting down next to Lance. 

 

“I assume we’re in your apartment? How did I get here?” Lance asked, trying to calm down his heart that was racing from Keith’s touch. 

 

“First of all, you scared the shit out of me Lance, you need to take more care of yourself.” Keith scolded him before speaking again “Well, you fainted and I caught you. I brought you here so I could take care of you.” 

 

Lance could feel his heart thumping loudly in his chest “thank you for taking care of me.” He said with a small smile. Not even a second passed before Lance realized something, his eyes going wide. “Wait! You said it’s Monday? I need to be at work!” He said horrified, but before he could even move, Keith had put his hand on Lance’s shoulder. 

 

“No you don’t, I called your boss, Coran, and I explained the situation, he was very worried and said to only go back to work when you were feeling well.” 

 

Lance looked at Keith with wide eyes “you... what? How did you get my bosses number? Did you hack into my phone??” 

 

Keith whole body shook with laughter “No, what do you think I am? A super spy? I can’t hack phones.” He paused, composing himself before continuing “My friend Lotor told me a while back that he met you and that you worked with his girlfriend Allura so I asked Lotor for Allura’s number and I told her about your condition, she gave me Coran’s number who apparently is her uncle and told me to talk to him.” 

 

Lance blinked “wow, you went through all that trouble… thank you.” 

 

“You’re welcome, it was nothing, I didn’t want you to get fired when you wouldn’t show up to work and I didn’t know when you’d wake up so I figured it was best to call. Of course if you didn’t wake up today I would have taken you to the hospital, you had a pretty high fever when you fainted.” 

 

Lance licked his lips, “yeah, I wasn’t feeling so well and I had barely slept, I shouldn’t have gone out.” 

 

Keith hummed, grabbing a glass of water from the nightstand behind him and handed it to Lance. 

 

“Thank you.” Lance said before drinking the whole glass of water. 

 

“Now that you’re awake I can give you the cold medicine I bought.” Keith said and Lance looked at him with wide eyes. 

 

“You bought medicine for me? You shouldn’t have, it must have cost you a lot of money.” Lance said, fidgeting nervously. 

 

Keith smiled gently “Lance, money is not a problem for me, I bought you medicine because I want you to get better and because I worry about you. But I don’t want you to pay me back okay? So don’t worry about the money.” 

 

Lance shook his head “No, I have to pay you back.” 

 

Keith chuckle “I won’t accept your money.” 

 

Lance chewed on his bottom lip “alright, thank you so much Keith, for everything.” 

 

Keith smiled gently “I’ll order breakfast, what would you like to eat? Do you like pancakes? Or waffles? Or do you wants eggs and bacon? Whatever you want, I’ll order it for you.” 

 

Lance blinked “order? You don’t have food at your house.” 

 

“I have instant ramen and other microwavable foods but I don’t have anything else. I can’t cook at all, I set fire to the kitchen of my last apartment years ago so once I started making money, I started ordering food or eating out.” Keith said, looked down in embarrassment. 

 

Lance started laughing “I can’t believe you set fire to the kitchen.”

 

Keith pouted “don’t laugh, it was a traumatic experience, I was 15.” 

 

Lance laughed again, “I’m sorry. I’m not really hungry but I like everything so whatever you feel like eating, order me the same thing.” He said 

 

Keith hummed “alright.” He said before getting up from the bed. “Do you want to take a shower. I can lend you some clothes.” 

 

Lance nodded “yes, showering would do me some good.” He smiled, slowly getting up from the bed, fearing he’d faint again if he moved to fast. 

 

Keith went to the bathroom and grabbed a towel, handing it to Lance. “Here you go. I’ll leave you some clothes on the bed, I’ll be in the kitchen that’s down the hall.” 

 

Lance made his way into the bathroom, took off his clothes and was about to close the curtain when noticed something and he screamed. 

 

Keith rushed into the bathroom “what’s wrong?!” 

 

Lance turned to face Keith, forgetting for a second that he wasn’t wearing any clothes, as he saw Keith’s eyes travel down his body, blushing. Lance realized and covered himself with the shower curtain. 

 

Keith blinked “what’s wrong?” He asked again 

 

“You have a 2 in 1 shower gel and shampoo?! Are you crazy?! I can’t wash my hair with that!” 

 

Keith frowned, rolling his eyes “you scared me, I thought there was a cockroach or something.” He said with a sigh. 

 

“I wish it was a cockroach.” Lance mumbled 

 

Keith’s face broke into a smile and he laughed “you’re so dramatic, it’s cute.” 

 

Lance blushed at Keith’s comment. 

 

Keith cleared his throat “I’ll leave you so you can shower, I left clothes on the bed.” He said before turning around and exiting the bathroom. 

 

Lance took his time showering, enjoying standing in the hot water for a while before stepping out of the shower. 

 

He dried himself with the towel before wrapping it around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom. 

 

On the bed there was a hoodie, along with some boxer briefs and some sweatpants. 

 

The hoodie was a little tight on Lance’s shoulders and the sleeves were a little short. The sweatpants was a little short as well but anything was better than his dirty clothes. 

 

He left the towel in the bathroom before exiting the bedroom, he went down the hall and crossed the living room, looking around. There was only a sofa and a small coffee table but that was it. The rest of the room was unoccupied. Lance walked over to the kitchen where he found Keith taking out food out of plastic containers.

 

“Hey, sorry if the clothes are a little small, I gave you the biggest ones I could find.” Keith said, looking over his shoulder. 

 

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” Lance said with a smile before sniffing the air. 

 

“Pancakes?” He guessed 

 

Keith hummed “I’ve been craving pancakes for a couple of days.” 

 

Lance smiled “I’m excited, I haven’t had pancakes in months.” 

 

Keith finished putting the pancakes on plates before putting them on the small table where he had already set out the cutlery. 

 

Lance sat down on the table and grabbed the small bottle of maple syrup, putting it on top of his pancakes, Keith did the same and they began eating. 

 

“Nyma must have been worried when I fainted, did she say anything to you?” 

 

Keith who was chewing on his pancakes almost choked, and started coughing. He swallowed his pancakes before drinking a whole glass of water. 

 

“Uh- Lance look, you really should dump her, she’s a terrible person. She wasn’t worried at all, she looked annoyed that you fainted. She left you there, if she really cared about you, she would have been worried and she would have wanted to take care of you.” Keith said, playing with his fingers nervously, worried about Lance’s reaction. 

 

Lance was quiet for awhile before setting down his fork. “Maybe she has called me.” 

 

“She hasn’t. I charged your phone, it’s on the bedside table and you only got messages from 2 people someone named Hunk and someone named Pidge. I didn’t look what it said, I just saw the messages when I charged your phone and since it hasn’t ringed since.” Keith said 

 

Lance leaned back into his chair and ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes. 

 

“Why am I never good enough?” He asked, his voice cracking. 

 

Keith frowned, reaching over the table and grabbed Lance’s hand. “You are good enough, you’re an amazing person Lance, she doesn’t deserve you. If she can’t appreciate you, she’s the biggest idiot in the world. But you don’t need her, you’ll find someone who you’ll love and that person will love you back and treat you right. Anyone would be lucky to be loved by you.” 

 

Lance looked at Keith with tears in his eyes, he smiled at his words, feeling butterflies in his stomach. “Thank you Keith, you’re so sweet.” 

 

They finished their food and Keith put the plates in the sink to wash them later. Then, he handed Lance the medication he had bought for him along with a glass of water. Lance thanked Keith with a smile before taking the medication, finishing the whole glass of water quickly. 

 

“Give me your clothes, I’ll put them in the washing machine.” Keith said 

 

Lance smiled “alright, thank you.” He said before walking over to the bedroom to grab his clothes before following Keith towards the washing machine and put his dirty clothes in.

 

“How can you afford such a huge apartment? Being a drug dealer pays that much?” Lance asked, curious. 

 

Keith hummed “yeah, it pays a lot.”

 

“Can anyone join your gang?” Lance said jokingly. 

 

“Yeah, why? Wanna join?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

Lance chuckled “I- I don’t know, what do you do? Does everyone deal drugs? How does it work? Does everyone make a lot of money? Because I could really use the money, but does it have to be something illegal? Can I-”

 

“Lance.” Keith said, putting his hands on Lance’s shoulders. “Breathe, calm down. How about we go sit down, I’ll tell you everything and if you’re interested after, we can go talk to Lotor about you joining the gang okay?”    
  
Lance nodded “Why Lotor though?”    
  
Keith chuckled “Lotor’s our leader.”    
  
They went to the living room and sat down on the sofa.    
  
“Okay, I’ll start telling you the information but I need to know that I can trust you, that you won’t tell another soul about this. Especially not the police.” Keith spoke, looking at Lance with a serious look on his face.   
  
“I promise, I won’t tell anyone about this, even if I decide not to join.” Lance said

 

Keith nodded “Alright, I’m trusting you.” He said before leaning against the couch, making himself comfortable.    
  
“So, there are the ones that are Galra by blood, that means one or both of their parents were Galra and they were raised as such.These people have higher authority and knowledge, all the big decisions are decided by them and then they inform the rest. Then, there are the ones who are not Galra by blood but still decided to join. But, once you join the Galra, you’re a Galra for life. You can’t decide one day that you don’t want to be a Galra anymore and just walk away. The only way you can stop being a Galra is if the leader asks you to turn in your jacket. If you betray the Galra, you won’t get out of there alive. So you need to be aware of the consequences when you join, it’s not an after-school club that you can quit if you get bored.” Keith spoke, pausing to look at Lance in the eyes.    
  
“We’re a drug-dealing gang, but none of the members are consumers. We wouldn’t have any drug left to sell if it were the case. There are different jobs, the cooks that make the drugs, the ones who are in charge of gathering clients, others have background checks on the clients, observe them, make sure they are not undercover police officers, and then the ones who make the deliveries. We also manage the Empire diners, we use the diners as a cover to launder the drug money we make, so we can keep some of it in the bank and the police won’t suspect a thing. Then there are the employees who work at the diner, they are not part of the gang, these people don’t know what goes on beyond the walls of the diner, we don’t tell them anything in case the police wants to interrogate them. Now for the pay, it really depends on the weeks, but the money we make doesn’t get lower than 30 thousand a week. Finally, if you decide to join, you’ll have to go through Lotor, talk to him, see if approves it, if he does, then see what kind of job would be best suited for you and finally, once you’re in, you’ll have to get a tattoo that proves that you’re officially part of the Galra, it’s mostly so other Galra members will recognize you.”    
  
Once Keith finished speaking, he looked at Lance who was looking at Keith with wide eyes, before asking “Do you have any questions?”    
  
“Yes, 30 thousand a week? So you make… uh- I have no clue how much that is in a month but it sounds like a lot!” Lance said, not able to believe his ears. 

 

Keith chuckled “Yes, well sometimes I make more, 30 thousand is just an example, it’s what I got when I started my first week and that was because I had barely any experience and they didn’t give me a lot of deliveries.” 

 

“So how does it work? With the money I mean”    
  
“Well, at the end of the week, we put all the money we made from each deliveries we did every day and we divide them between the cook, the ones who gather the clients and the ones who make the deliveries. We have a lot of members but we’re spread out around the country. Here is where the base is and where everything started. So that’s why Lotor is here. We have not many people here, only the ones that Lotor trusts the most.”    
  
“So if I joined, Lotor could send me somewhere else?” Lance asked to which Keith shook his head “I mean, he could but it won’t happen, if you’d decide to join, I’d ask Lotor to keep you here.”    
  
Lance’s heart jumped at Keith words “But what’s the guarantee that Lotor will listen to you?” he asked

 

Keith smiled “well, we’ve known each other since we were young, we kind of like brothers, Lotor has absolute trust in me as I have in him so if I ask him to keep you here, he’ll accept.”    
  
Lance chewed on his bottom lip, processing Keith’s words. “Okay… you said you made 30 thousand the first week you started, that means you’re not Galra by blood right?” He asked

 

Keith fidgeted with his fingers, “No, it doesn’t. It’s complicated… but I am a Galra by blood, my mother was Galra.”    
  
Lance nodded, he wanted to ask more, curious what was complicated about it but it was clear that Keith didn’t want to talk about it further so he didn’t press him. 

 

“The tattoo you have on your arm, is that the tattoo you have to get that proves you’re a Galra?”   
  
Keith nodded “Mmm-hmmm.” he rolled up his sleeve and showed Lance the tattoo. 

 

“Vrepit Sa? What does it mean?” 

 

“It’s Latin and it means “Killing Thrust” apparently, Zarkon, Lotor’s father is the one who decided that would be the tattoo all Galra would have.”    
  
Lance hummed, acknowledging Keith’s words. “Okay, I think that’s all the questions I have at the moment. If I get more questions, can I ask you another time?”    
  
Keith smiled and nodded “Of course.”    
  
Lance hummed “How long can I think about it before giving you an answer?”    
  
Keith blinked, “Well, you can take as long as you want, it’s really up to you. I didn’t think you were serious about joining when you asked, it can be a month, a year, it doesn’t matter. It’s an important decision, as I said before, once you’re in there is no going back to really think about this it okay? Weigh all the pros and cons.”    
  
Lance smiled and nodded, feeling less pressured knowing he could take however long he wanted to think about it. “Alright, thanks Keith.”    
  
“Oh, that reminds me” Keith said, taking out his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and handed it to Lance. “Here, give me your number so we can text.”     
  
Lance smiled “yes, we’re friends now so we need to be able to text each other.” he said as he typed in his contact info before handing Keith back his phone.    
  
“Lancey Lance? Really?” Keith chuckled as he saw the contact name Lance had put for himself but quickly sent Lance a text message so he’d have his number.    
  
“I texted you so you can have my number.”    
  
“Thanks.” Lance said with a smile. 

  
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful, Keith made sure Lance drank plenty of water and gave him his medicine when it was time for him to take it again. They watched movies on Keith’s laptop and Lance fell asleep at some point, when he woke up, it was the evening already and since Lance was feeling much better he decided it was time for him to go home. He liked Keith’s company and spending time with him, he wanted to stay more but he didn’t want to impose, surely Keith had better things to do than spending time with Lance.    
  
So Lance grabbed his phone and his now clean clothes, his medicine and headed downstairs, back to his apartment. He told Keith he’d get return him his clothes soon and Keith assured him there was no need to rush.    
  
Lance felt lonely the second he stepped foot in his apartment.    
  
He checked the notifications he had on his phone, he had a couple a from Hunk and Pidge and one from Keith but aside from that nothing from Nyma.    
  
He opened Keith’s message that just read ‘It’s Keith.’ and saved him under, “Keef, hot neighbor”, he answered him before proceeding to answer to Hunk and Pidge’s messages. 

The next day, Lance woke up at noon, he felt way much better. He ate breakfast, taking his medicine before going to take a shower.    
  
After his shower, Lance put on some clothes and sat down on his bed, dialing Nyma’s number. Lance let it ring a good while before she picked up.    
  
“Hello Lance.”    
  
“Nyma, Hi, can we meet in an hour near Balmera diner?”    
  
“I can’t today.”    
  
Lance sighed “Please, it won’t take long, it’s important.”    
  
“Fine. See you in an hour.”    
  
Lance hung up, grabbing his keys and wallet before leaving his apartment.    
  
2 buses later, he was in the parking lot behind Balmera diner, waiting for Nyma, he had already texted her that he’d be waiting for her there. 

Nyma arrived soon enough, frowning as she saw Lance. “Why did you want to meet here?” she asked, crossing her arms on her chest.    
  
Lance swallowed, fidgeting nervously with his hands, it was the first time he was ever going to break up with someone, he wasn’t sure how to tell her that it was over without being mean or hurting her feelings. Sure, Keith told him that Nyma didn’t care about him and Lance wasn’t feeling very loved by Nyma either, but they weren’t in her mind, maybe it was just the way she acted with everyone, maybe she did care about him and Lance had his heart broken so many times that he didn’t want to make anyone go through such pain.    
  
“Listen, I want to break up. I feel like I’m the only one giving his all in this relationship and I don’t want that, I want a relationship where it’s 50/50, where we’re equals and I don’t feel this way with you. I’m sorry.” Lance said, looking at Nyma.    
  
She raised an eyebrow at him “Alright, if that’s what you want, okay, let’s break up.”    
  
Lance blinked “That’s it, you’re not… upset?”    
  
Nyma shrugged “not really no, I mean, I like you, you’re a cool guy, handsome and funny but I don’t really care if we’re together or not, I had fun while I was with you but you want that to stop and that’s fine by me.” she answered before looking at her phone, “well, I gotta go, see you around.” she said before turning around and left.   
  
Lance was frozen in place, shocked by Nyma’s reaction. Well, it was best that she didn’t really care instead of being broken-hearted but still, Lance had not expected that reaction out of her.   
  
He crossed the parking lot, entering Balmera diner. Immediately, he made his way over to the bar, Pidge was serving a customer when he came in but as soon as she saw him, she rushed over to him.    
  
“Lance, finally, you’re back from the dead, how’s your cold, Hunk was worried sick when he didn’t hear from you.”     
  
Lance coughed a little, but smiled “Yeah I’m better, still have a cough but I don’t have a fever anymore and I’m taking my medicine so I’m gonna be cured soon.”    
  
Pidge grinned “Good to hear, I’ll go tell Hunk that you’re here and then we’ll take our break so we can all eat together and catch up.”    
  
Lance smiled, “Sounds perfect.”    
  
Not even a couple of seconds passed and Hunk emerged from the kitchen, and walked straight towards Lance, hugging him. “I missed you buddy, why didn’t you call us when you were sick? I could have brought you soup or anything else you needed.” he said as he let go of Lance before adding “Come on, let’s go sit down, Pidge, can you bring the food?”    
  
Pidge grumbled something about how Hunk was already in the kitchen and that he should have brought it himself but went anyway. Lance and Hunk moved to sit down in a booth.

“I didn’t want to make you worry, I’m almost cured now.” Lance paused, coughing before speaking again “I got a cold and I overworked myself and I passed out, thankfully Keith was there and he took care of me.” 

Hunk looked at Lance with wide eyes “You passed out? Jesus Lance, you need to take care of yourself... “ he grumbled before frowning, “wait, who’s Keith?”

Lance wasn’t sure why but his cheeks heated up “uh-Keith’s my neighbor.” 

“The one that’s part of the Galra?” Hunk asked just as Pidge arrived with the food and plopped herself next to Hunk.    
  
“What’s with the Galra?”    
  
“Lance fainted and his neighbor Keith that’s part of the Galra apparently took care of him.” 

Lance blushed as he was met with Pidge’s gaze.    
  
“What? Lance you really need to be careful.” Pidge said as she began eating her burger.    
  
Lance shook his head “It’s not like that, Keith’s really nice, he’s sweet and he was really worried about me, bought me medicine and nursed me back to health.” he said, feeling butterflies somersaulting in his stomach but decided to ignore it.    
  
Pidge and Hunk exchanged a look before Hunk shook his head “I don’t like this, you shouldn’t get close to this guy.”    
  
“That’s what I thought too at first, but I promise you Hunk, he’s super nice, you’ll know what I’m talking about once you get to know him.”    
  
“Once I get to know him? I don’t plan on getting to know a drug dealer.”    
  
Lance chewed on his bottom lip “well we’re friends so you’ll meet him eventually.” He said before biting into his burger.    
  
Hunk sighed but didn’t add anything else, instead changing the subject.    
  
“So, how are things with Nyma?” He asked 

Lance scoffed, swallowing his burger. “I broke up with her, an hour ago actually. She didn’t treat me right…”    
  
“I’m so sorry buddy, but it’s good that you broke up with her now before she could break your heart.”    
  
“Yeah, that bitch didn’t deserve you.” Pidge chimed in, trying to make Lance feel better.

Lance smiled “thanks guys but I’m okay really, I liked her but I wasn’t like I was in love with her or anything.”    
  
They ate and chatted about a bit of everything. Lance asked Hunk about his work who ranted about how Empire diner was bad for his business and then Lance asked him about his life with Shay, so Hunk gushed about how living with Shay was wonderful and how in love he was with her. He said how he wanted to marry her and how he’d soon as Shay’s father for his permission to marry her, hoping he’d say yes so Hunk could begin planning his proposal. Lance was over the moon, excited for his best friend. Then he asked Pidge about school, who spoke how she barely got any sleep but was excited to only have a couple of months before graduating. 

They asked Lance about his job, he told them it was exhausting but he liked it, being able to help people made him happy.    
  
Soon enough, it was already 5 pm, Lance said his friends goodbye since he had to work again tomorrow.    
  
Lance entered his building, and found Keith in the lobby, checking his mailbox. He looked to the side at the door opening and his face lit up as his eyes settled on Lance.    
  
Lance could feel his heart racing in his chest as he saw Keith smile at him.    
  
“Hey Keith, got any mail?” He asked, making his way closer to him, leaning against the mailboxes.    
  
“Hey Lance, I ordered paint online a couple of weeks ago, the website said it was supposed to arrive today but there’s nothing.” Keith sighed, pouting.    
  
“Paint? You paint?”    
  
“Yeah, I do,” Keith said rubbing the back of his neck

Lance looked at him in awe, “No way, how come I didn’t see any painting of yours in your apartment?” he asked

Keith chuckled “well I didn’t give you a tour of my apartment, otherwise you would have seen that I have a room only to paint and a guest room.” 

“You gotta show me your paintings sometime,” Lance said, playfully poking Keith in the arm.    
  
“Sure, with pleasure,” Keith responded, a blush painting his cheeks. “So…” he added, clearing his throat a little. “How are you feeling?”    
  
“I’m almost cured, I still have a cough but otherwise I’m good, I’ll be going back to work tomorrow but I’ll ask Coran if I can go back to my previous shift hours, I don’t want to overwork myself again even if I could use the money,” Lance said    
  
Keith hummed “Did your girlfriend call?” He asked, curious.    
  
“I broke up with her today.”    
  
“Oh, it’s for the best, I’m sorry though, it must be rough.”    
  
Lance shook his head “not really, I mean, I wasn’t in love with her or anything… these last weeks, I was liking her more as a friend, not much as my girlfriend.” He said

“Oh, alright, well, I’m glad you’re doing okay Lance.” Keith said with a softly smile. 

Keith took a step closer and Lance found himself holding his breath. “Lance?”    
  
“Mmm-hmm?”    
  
“I-uh- I should go, have deliveries to make.”    
  
“Oh.” Lance looked down and took a step back, moving away from the mailboxes. “Be careful at work kay’? Don’t get shot again.”    
  
Keith smiled “I won’t, I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” he grabbed his helmet that was on top of the mailboxes and made his way towards the door.    
  
“See you soon,” Lance said, waving at Keith.    
  
“See ya.” Keith waved back before exiting the building. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you guys think~


End file.
